Key Performance Indicators

Determining Website ROI Using Google Analytics

Author: AdminOn: Jan 30Categories: , , , , , , 8 Comments

We’ve just measured acquisition, target market profiles, and engagement. So how do you determine whether all your hardwork actually paid off?

 

Step one is to examine your KPIs:

1. Did your sales increase?

2. Did your costs decrease?

3. Did your fan base and number of Likes increase?

4. Have you been getting lots of positive feedback on blog posts?

5. Are you managing your community building efforts adequately?

6. Has your Events and Visitor Flow lengthened?

7. Are you getting more newsletter signups?

 

This is your opportunity to determine your website’s ROI using Google Analytics.

 

Know Your Goals, Know Your Customer

 

I’m going to keep stressing this fact. Keep your numbers simple, digestible, and, most importantly, actionable. Remember, that in order to know whether or not you’re achieving your company’s goals and objectives, you have to measure your results and determine what’s working — and what’s clearly not working — in your campaign.

 

You cannot sell something to someone who doesn’t like your product or your sales pitch. Know who your target market is and how they like to be communicated with. It is here that you’ll be able to identify where you have opportunities to grow even more. Adapting your online marketing and sales strategy is a highly effective way to ensure you’re reaching your target market in a way that’s interesting and relevant — all the time.

 

So, What’s Next?: Facebook Insights and Hootsuite Analytics

 

Now that we’ve examine my #1 favorite analytics tools, my next — and very exciting webinar series — will actually focus on my OTHER two favorite tools which are Facebook Insights and Hootsuite Analytics. Both are free and can give you extremely powerful insights into consumer behavior quickly and effectively.

 

Make it a fantastic day and I’ll see you all soon =)

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How to Drive Traffic To Your Website and Generate Leads Online

Author: AdminOn: Jan 27Categories: , , , , 3 Comments

While it’s all well and good to discuss visitor profiles, market behavior, and online user experience, the first — and biggest — hurdle every business owner must face is the same: How do you drive traffic to your site in the first place? And, once you’ve established a steady flow of visitors, how do you attract even more and get them to convert?

There’s no one magic formula that herds visitors to your site and automatically converts them into paying customers. However, there are certainly ways to increase your chances of grabbing the attention of more people.

Search Engine Optimization For Indexing

The best place to start is on the backend of your site. Make sure your overall site and page SEO matches that of your content. When a web designer says they will SEO optimize your site without also writing or optimizing your content at the same, I would take a step back and re-examine your initial goals of having a site in the first place. Designing a site without creating content at the same time is extremely common… But, it’s not the most advantageous way to ensure your site is 100% searchable on major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Just like your accessories have to complement your whole outfit, your content must also match the SEO of your site — or else it doesn’t look good or perform at its optimum.

One of the main services my company offers in addition to KPI and social media strategy is website and content development. I’m very strict on content creation and SEO. In my world, you can’t have one without the other. And, always remember to go back to the basics. Go networking, go to tradeshows, cold call, light a fire under your sales people. Don’t simply rely on your website to generate cash flow. People want to buy what you represent and the best way to sell them on that is in person — with you representing the best asset your business has to offer.

 

 

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How To Use Google Analytics To Gain Actionable Insights Into Your Website

Author: AdminOn: Jan 20Categories: , , , No Comments

We all know social media accounts and websites are great ways to:

1. Tell the public about new products

2. Connect with clients on a more personal level

3. Collect key data on your target market.

The online social space is about learning, listening, and, most importantly, building your marketing strategy in real-time.

There are a number of analytics tools that, when used properly, can help you make the necessary adjustments to ensure you’re appealing to your target market in the most efficient ways possible. My favorite tools are Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and Hootsuite. What’s even better about these is that they’re free, it’s easy to interpret the data, and anyone can use it.

Using Google Analytics To Measure Acquisition and Engagement

In the most general sense of the word, Google Analytics was created for the basic function of measuring acquisition and engagement in the digital space. I mentioned this in my last blog that measuring your results must be a part of your online marketing strategy in order for your presence to matter at all. As we move further along in this 7-part Google Analytics series, we’ll examine the basics of how you can cut through the numbers clutter and distill all that information down to give you a more accurate representation of how your site is actually performing.

These tools give can give you a MUCH deeper look into who your customer is and how they behave online. As your market evolves, Google Analytics can assist you in rapidly changing a number of fantastic actionable insights:

1. How you word your content

2. Modifying how you design your graphics

3. Altering the overall user experience of your website.

This is by far the best way to maximize the opportunity to reach your audience and encourage conversions. Because at the end of the day, a conversion is a sale. And a sale, is money.

Adjusting Your Marketing Strategy In Real Time

The ability to quickly adjust your content, site layout, images, and overall social media strategy is critical to your online marketing efforts.

If you know your market loves pretty pictures and you’re an online clothing company, be sure to add in a new Fall or seasonal catalogue with associated content and amazing photos. Photographers: Are your viewers clicking on your portfolio? Which projects are they clicking on? Wedding shoots? Engagement shoots? Family portraits? Once you know which items are most popular during a specific period of time, you can tailor your online efforts to reflect their interest. And, that’s powerful.

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Important Google Analytics Metrics For Measuring Your Online Performance

Author: AdminOn: Jan 17Categories: , , No Comments

When you build a website, you must have goals for it. You have define your online purpose. Your website should be an extension of you and your business. It represents what your business does and acts as your secondary sales person when you’re not around. You’re going to notice that I say that a lot in my presentations, webinars, blogs, you name. When you have an online presence, ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve: What’s the purpose of the site? Is your site built in a way that appeals to your target market? Is the user experience a pleasant and effective one?

Having a website is critical for business owners who want to take their business to the next level — and rightly so. It can be a powerful lead generation tool and so much more. But, the most important element of having any online presence is to have it build your brand equity and make you money.

Depending on the industry you’re in, you’ll have different markers of success; different ways to determine whether or not your campaign was a boom or a bust.

What Metrics Do Chief Marketing Officers Use?

There are a number of metrics that chief marketing officers and management use to measure success across different analytics tools like Google Analytics, Buddy Media, and the list goes on. I’ve picked these four as my most important metrics:

1. Site traffic

2. Conversion

3. Number of fans and members

4. Number of positive customer mentions.

If I want a quick and dirty summary of how well I’m performing at any given time, I look to these numbers.

Do any of these four metrics apply to you? In my opinion, these are the items you want to pay particular attention to if you’re new to analytics — and don’t have a ton of time to spend slouched over a computer analyzing numbers and charts. Remember, the purpose is not to overwhelm you with fancy bar graphs or complicated algorithms. The purpose is to help you identify specific information about the viewing habits of your target market and how you can best serve them.

This is the kind of information that can be extremely expensive if you were to purchase it from an external agency. But, with Google Analytics, you pay nothing and gain everything.

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Google Analytics: How To Identify Your Key Performance Indicators

Author: AdminOn: Jan 12Categories: , , , No Comments

There are some businesses out there that have an army of staff who are working hard everyday to analyze that company’s return on investment: checking to see what parts of the business are doing well — and which ones aren’t. It can be a costly process to weed out the top performers from the duds and to come up with effective strategies to improve operations. This is something best-in-class, Fortune 500 companies do on a weekly, daily, and sometimes hourly basis.

But, if you’re like the 99% of the entrepreneurs and small business owners in the world, you’ll find that you probably spend more time developing your client’s business than your own.

If I were to share with you one of my favorite tools for business analysis and planning , it would be Google Analytics simply because it’s easy to use and I can usually get all the information I want from it in 10 minutes or less. Do I use Google Analytics? I use everyday for myself and for my clients.

So You’ve Got Traffic. Now what?

Everyone wants traffic to their site. Great. So what do you do after you’ve acquired a visitor? Do they purchase? Do they sign up for a newsletter? How far are they going into your site before leaving? Do you even know why they’re leaving?

There is a lot of data to wade through in any form of analytics. Setting up goals and analyzing them is Step 2. Step number one is IDENTIFYING them. Start thinking about your Key Performance Indicators. What defines success for your site? At the same time, what defines the overall success of your business?

 

Are the measurements for success different from one industry to another? Yes, very much so. A fashion blog site wants ad traffic, click-throughs, and comments for each post because this is how they make money. On the other hand, a building and construction company wants people to download their product spec sheets and submit a quote request form. So, if you’re looking to cut through the numbers clutter of your analytics, you must first define your KPI’s and then narrow down your metrics.

 

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